Western Digital Corp. said Wednesday that chairman Tom Pardun
will retire in November, having reached the mandatory retirement
age.
He will be succeeded as chairman by Matthew Massengill, 54. Mr.
Massengill is a former chairman and chief executive officer of
Western Digital and has been a director since 2000.
Len Lauer, 58, will become lead independent director. He has
been a director since 2010.
Mr. Pardun, 71, joined the board in 1993 and has served two
terms as chairman, for a total of 10 years. He was lead independent
director for six years between those terms.
Founded in 1970 as a specialized semiconductor manufacturer,
Western Digital entered the hard drive market in 1988 and became
known for hard drives used in PCs. But faced with flagging PC
sales, Western Digital expanded into the more lucrative market for
drives used alongside servers and storage systems. Solid-state
drives, or SSDs, are the mainstay medium for storing data in
smartphones, tablets and other portable devices.
In the most recent quarter, Western Digital's profit fell
sharply and revenue declined 13% from the year earlier, largely as
a result of the falling demand for personal computers that has
battered retailers and makers of computer parts and software
alike.
Shares have fallen about 25% this year through Wednesday's
close.
Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@wsj.com
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